Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)

Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) is an information-gathering mission. A Delta II Heavy Rocket, launched in 2011, deployed two satellites, GRAIL-A (Ebb) and GRAIL-B (Flow), in lunar orbit to provide in-depth data for scientists to analyze in order to better understand the Moon's gravitational characteristics, structure, and history.

Also on board the spacecraft was a camera assembly for students that was used to capture images and video of the Moon's surface.

Learn about the GRAIL mission from this official Press Kit that NASA released in August 2011. Topics include Why Grail?, Mission Overview, Mission Phases, Why Study Gravity?, and more...

The Science Team

GRAIL is a NASA mission. The leading scientific investigator is Maria Zuber, a geophysics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena will manage the mission and develop the scientific instruments, and Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver will build and operate the spacecraft. Educational and public outreach for the mission is led by Dr. Sally Ride, the former astronaut, through Sally Ride Science, her science content company.